Whether you have a new or long-established business, I can provide the ‘been there done that’ expertise to help you succeed and realise your full potential. I can help you to further the growth of your business and give you the support you need to overcome the challenges getting in your way.
Having steered my own business through the storm that was COVID-19, I can draw on plenty of recent experience to help you prepare for the unexpected.
You’ll get open and honest feedback, bringing you the clarity and focus you need to move your business forward on a strategic or operational level.
Bored at uni one day in 2007, I decided to use my student overdraft to buy a marquee. Like many great entrepreneurial ideas, the business began on the back of a beer mat. Today, Trafalgar Marquees is an award-winning, full-service marquee and event management company, one of the largest businesses of its kind in London and south-west England.
With Diageo among the first of my clients, we now work with many high-profile companies, including the BBC, Berkley Homes Group, Channel 4, Clifford Chance, Denbies Vineyard, London South East Colleges and the University of Arts London.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing.
After several acquisitions and years later, I bought out my business partner. Things were running well – we were growing and profitable, and then Covid hit. 90% of our business fell away, and we faced a potential and very imminent threat that the business wouldn’t survive.
Despite a significantly distressed supply chain, with scarce availability and spiralling costs, my team and I used all our resilience and determination to deliver exceptional commercial success. We have transformed from a short-term hire marquee business pre-Covid to a long-term hire temporary space business.
This hands-on experience, initiative, boldness and imagination are what I draw on to help others facing challenges.
With a passion for learning, I decided to complete an MBA alongside running my business. This gave my practical business experience a rigorous theoretical grounding. I completed two study trips abroad: one to the University of Cape Town in South Africa, focused on innovation, and one to Georgetown University in Washington DC, focused on business and politics. I also completed a project around sustainable management practices in a VUCA world.
These experiences shaped how I feel about business in the modern world and consolidated my belief that businesses can be a force for good.
A qualified coach and member of the Association of Business Mentors, I am a business mentor on the UK Government’s Help to Grow programme. A member of the Institute of Directors, I have been part of their expert advisory group for entrepreneurship for several years. I have also been on two trade delegations with the IOD, supporting international trade.
James Morris is an entrepreneur, that helps other entrepreneurs to navigate challenges in their businesses.
